In the wake of this year’s floods in NSW’s Northern Rivers that left nine dead and destroyed 4000 homes, concerns have been raised about the potential for a flood in Victoria and whether enough is being done to prevent homes being built in locations at risk of serious flooding.
But the information about flood hazards was not compiled in a consistent way, she said. There was a patchwork of data sets gathered inconsistently by local councils and water authorities which may not have the budgets to pay for up-to-date flood modelling, PIA warns, even though the science could change quickly.
“You could get a planning approval for something where there was a risk of flooding … If a flood came, those houses would be impacted by that.”Aside from the impacts on homes, the costs were also passed on to insurance companies, she said.
Source: Real Estate Daily Report (realestatedailyreport.net)